“Shake?” Shinichi asked hopefully and held out his hand for her.
Twig puffed up, excitement nearly bursting at the command that she recognized. She lifted her paw, ears up and forward once more as she scooted closer, making absolute certain that her pads made contact with Shinichi’s palm. She then looked back at Hakuba for approval with a quick glance, then back to wait for Shinichi’s response… which she hoped would be praise.
“Such a good girl,” Hakuba said in English, unable to stop his snickering. “We’ll have to work on your Japanese, though, Twig, if we’re to stay here for any length of time…”
He wanted to get down and pet her, but that seemed ill-advised, so instead he shifted his weight to lean a little more heavily on the cane.